Blue Caprice [2013]

November 12, 2013

I consider myself pretty well informed when it comes to mass shootings in ‘Murica, but I missed this one that happened in 2002. Beltway sniper attacks were quite puzzling for the authorities since they completely fucked up the profile (goddammit Rossi) of the attacker. A gripping beginning of the movie clearly explains that this is going to be an indie drama movie about the perpetrator(s) of the sniper attacks and just how and why did this all happen.

Director Alexandre Moors managed to capture those small, seemingly unimportant, personality-forming events that, later on, lead to a certain behavior, like gazing in your empty fridge wondering why you didn’t buy more beer. But since Blue Caprice is his debut, Alexandre also made a few mistakes like zooming in too often and those “atmosphere building” scenes slowed down a bit already a slow movie. Still, this is nothing serious and shouldn’t discourage you from watching Blue Caprice.

Lee is a teenager currently living with his mother in Antigua. Shy and withdrawn he spends all day in the beautiful and untouched nature of the American tropical region, but like every teenager Lee is bored. When his mother leaves with only promises that he will see her again, he decides to end his life. As he was heading deeper and deeper into the ocean, one guy accidentally sees him and pulls him out. That guy’s name is John, and he accepts Lee as his son determined to take care of the boy…

As you can notice, Blue Caprice is an indie drama, so don’t expect a lot of action, blood, and decapitations (who was expecting that?). The fact that it’s about the vicious sniper attacks morbidly cancels out that indie hippie crap, making it a bridge between indie and regular drama movie. This is the examination of the psyche of the criminal and terrorist and it can prove to be very interesting depicting events and emotions that eventually drive people to commit such heinous crimes.

But, don’t be fooled, it’s not going to give you answers, it will only make you understand better the mind of such an individual. The acting was great, especially from two leads, with a lot of complaints directed at their apparent lack of emotion that can be easily explained by the subject of the movie. Not every character has to struggle internally with the kills. for some, the killing is easy as baking a warm apple pie. Poor mans’ Idris Elba and the kid you don’t wanna fuck with sure have put on a show, so you better check it out.